Another eight Hercules planes for the Romanian Air Force?

Those that flew to Kabul in a C-130 Hercules are mainly talking about the long trip and the freezing cockpit. Still, they are also happy they made it to Kabul and back. The four Hercules planes, bought several years ago, have completed hundreds of missions so far, carrying troops and equipment, sometimes to conflict areas, such as Afghanistan. Since peacekeeping is likely to become one of the Romanian specialties as a NATO member, transportation is the top priority.
“We are indeed planning to acquire transportation aircraft,” General Constantin Gheorghe, chief of staff of the Air Force told Ziarul Financiar. “First, we must finalise the plan of major acquisitions, which is drafted depending on negotiations with NATO, which just started today (yesterday, i.e.). Then, the Government will make a decision, as the buyer. I think we might be able to tell you more after September,” Gheorghe added. The general would not comment on the airplane maker, the supplier or the type of plane.
On the other hand, market sources show that, since Romania has already bought four planes of a certain type, it would not be cost-effective to start acquiring other models now. “With 12 planes, we can already start thinking of a zonal maintenance centre,” market sources say.
The military may be eyeing the C-130 H aircraft, endowed with electronic devices that are not necessarily state-of-the art, but appropriate for the missions to come. The price of such a plane ranges between 7-10 million dollars, if it is “second-hand.” The latest version, C-130 J is also the most expensive: about 60 million dollars.
The Romanians are considering buying second-hand planes, just as they did with the first four. In this case, the deal may revolve around 90 million dollars, with the planes to be acquired one or two at a time, according to military sources.
The company making the aircraft, Lockheed Martin, is strongly anchored in the Romanian defence market, where it also hopes to land a deal for assembling surveillance radars. Ziarul Financiar has estimated the radar deal at 100 million dollars. It is worth noting that Bruce Jackson, one of the biggest supporters of Romanian NATO accession, was also a member in the Lockheed Martin Board until recently. The company also makes the F-16 fighters, eyed by the Romanian pilots and by Defence Ministry officials. However, diplomatic sources say the U.S. Administration does not support such acquisitions, deemed as too costly and inappropriate for the role Romania is to play within NATO.